His Duty as A Human: Another Life
by Unsugar
Summary: Various installments of 'His Duty as A Human'. These are set before, during and after the event that happened in it, from various point of views. 11th installment, special: Just For You.
1. A Friend of My Friend is My Friend

**Title:** A Friend of My Friend is My Friend All Along

**Fandom:** Animanga – Saint Seiya

**Summary:** Shun went to meet the one person that linked him to the normal world outside his usual life. [Set before 'His Duty as a Human'.]

**Warning:** Random idea is random. I mean, Shun and Miho. What?

**Disclaimer:** Not. Mine. Happy now?

* * *

There were times Miho wondered what and where did the boys do and go whenever they were not so busy fighting and killing in the name of Athena. Sometimes, out of nowhere they would come and visit the orphanage and played with the kids, sometimes Seiya came alone, and sometimes Saori-ojousama was with them as well.

She also knew that Seiya did not stay at the Kido mansion when he was in Japan, unlike the rest of his friends. But when she has the chance to walk past the two places, they looked deserted and empty, apart from the servants.

The boys were not out fighting all the time, right?

The children have learned not to ask about their whereabouts after a while. They used to ask, _"When is Seiya-niichan and his friends coming back and play with us?"_ and _"Do Seiya-niichan has to go somewhere far? It always looks like that to us."_ But when Miho did not answer, they slowly learned not to ask.

She _could not_ answer their questions, because even she did not know if they are ever coming back each time they were leaving. And she knew anything she said would be useless, because that was how their lives are.

Still, she wished at least one of the boys would come and just talk, even if it was not Seiya.

* * *

It was just another bright, usual day at the orphanage; the boys were playing football, and the girls were playing and giggling among themselves.

Miho, however, was lost in her thoughts.

"Miho-neechan!"

"Ye-yes?"

"You're not watching our game! You're supposed to be the referee, remember?" The boys pouted, clearly hurt with her.

"I'm sorry, I can't seem to focus today."

"Eh, Miho-chan not focusing? That's not like you at all."

Miho turned at the somehow still familiar voice. It was not a voice she expected, but she welcomed it nonetheless.

"Ah, Shun-niichan!" The various cries and squeals around her did not stop her from staring at the male teenager in front of her, leaned against the fence dividing the orphanage from the main road, with the usual smile on his calm face.

How long has it been since the last time she saw him? Not that long, compared to the last time she met the rest. There should not be major changes to the boy in front of her.

But something has indeed changed about Shun. She could not put them into words, and it seemed obvious, only to her. The way he stood there, the way he carried himself as he walked to them, even his smile; something has definitely changed.

"Miho-chan?" Suddenly Shun was in front of her, holding in his arms one of the smaller girls. "Are you alright? You're spacing out again."

"Oh, nothing. Are you in Japan alone again this time, Shun-kun?" Miho covered up by asking one of the usual questions she asked the boys when they dropped by.

If Shun noticed anything, he kept quiet about it.

"Yes, unfortunately. There's something I have to do here, and as well as to represent Saori-san. I'll be leaving for Greece again tomorrow."

"Eh, you won't be here for long, Shun-niichan?" Grumbles and dissapointed sounds could be heard around him, making him chuckle lightly.

"I think I can be forgiven if I stay here and play with you until before dinner, if that's alright with your Miho-neechan."

"That's cruel, Shun-kun!" No way she could say no to the expectant looks she got from the children. "But of course you can stay."

Delightful cheers surrounded both of them as they walked into the orphanage side by side, talking and laughing. Something glistening on Shun's chest attracted Miho's attention.

'_Eh, since when Shun-kun wears a pendant?'_

The gold, star-shaped pendant, while hanging innocently from a chain on Shun's neck, had distracted Miho all day long about its origin.

* * *

"When are you coming again, Shun-niichan? Will Seiya-niichan be with you as well?" the kids asked excitedly, happy with the idea of the teenagers coming more frequently.

Miho could see the hesitation before Shun answered with a smile.

"… We'll see. Seiya and the rest are going to come soon too."

'_He didn't say about coming with them…'_ Miho thought, for some reasons getting worried. Throughout the day, Shun has been quiet, although the kids did not seem to notice it. It was not how Miho remembered him being; the cheerful and kind Shun that always has a bright smile on his face.

Today, Shun was more like reminiscing about something, even with the gentle smile.

"Then, I think I should be off," Shun stood up from where he was kneeling in front of the children, giving a smile to all of them. "I'll be leaving now, Miho-chan."

"Ah, yes. Take care now, Shun-kun, and don't force yourself too much."

"I won't. Thank you for everything, everyone, Miho-chan."

As Shun turned to leave, the heavy feeling inside her only increased, until she noticed something Shun had said as the male left the gate.

"Shun-kun!!" Shun turned back around, shocked, as well as the kids around her. "It's not 'thank you for everything', it's 'see you later'! Don't tell me I have to teach you that, too?"

Shun looked utterly surprised by that, before waving a lone hand and screamed back, "I understand. Sorry, Miho-chan!"

As he left and the kids laughed at her, Miho noticed that Shun still did not say "see you later."

And she, for some reasons, hated the small smile Shun had when he left.

It was as if he was saying that he was not coming back.

* * *

… Yes, I decided to use Miho for this installment. I see the orphanage and Miho as a place the boys go to temporarily run away from their duties as Saints, thus giving them the sense of a normal life.

And I'm also quite sure Miho is the only girl Shun met outside of Sainthood. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

Thank you for reading and C&C are well-appreciated.

Unsugar


	2. Taking What is Ours

**Title:** Taking What is Ours

**Fandom:** Animanga – Saint Seiya

**Summary:** He comes to take back what he believes is theirs. [Set after 'His Duty as A Human']

**Warning:** AU. Siblings fight. Angst. And various others.

**Disclaimer:** Not. Mine. Happy now?

* * *

Hurried footsteps echoed across the massive, dark hallway. A young boy rushed as fast as he could, his black cloak fluttering behind him. A concerned expression etched on his usually cheerful face.

The familiar, warm cosmo that he sensed earlier was not something that was supposed to appear around this part of the world.

Upon reaching the main entryway of his palace, the young lord gasped at what he found. Various men from his army were being helped by their more able comrades, blood pouring from many parts of their body.

But he did not stop to help, only pausing for a few seconds at the ones who he encountered along his way across the entryway. Their words only confirmed his worry further.

"_A Saint has arrived__ at the gate. Minos-sama and Aiacos-sama are fighting him."_

On his way to the gate, a heavy, silent shadow moved to his side. The only signs of acknowledgement it received were a quick glance and a curt nod.

But Rhadamanthys did not mind it at all. His Lord has other matters to worry about at the moment.

Especially now, when it was his own brother who was invading his own castle.

The moment they arrived at their destination, the young lord gasped and his Judge growled out in anger.

"Nii-san!"

* * *

Ikki looked up from giving the finishing blow on Aiacos when he heard the voice he has missed for so long. But what he saw only hurt him even more than necessary.

Shun stood there, horror apparent on his face. Beside him, the last of the three Underworld's Judges was already in a fighting stance, ready to kill for his Master. The only thing that was stopping him was a delicate, black-clad arm holding him back in a gentle manner.

_The black cloak, the dark clothes, the star-shaped pendant, the dark red hair, the pale face_; everything he saw on his younger brother only dampened the Phoenix's determination to bring back his wayward brother to their side.

"Shun--"

"Phoenix Ikki, what are you doing?" the cold, harsh voice brought shivers down his spine, and sounded so unfamiliar to the older boy's keen ears.

The way the former Saint phrased his question only confirmed Ikki of one thing: the young man standing in front of him is no longer Shun, his brother and the Andromeda Saint, but _Lord Shun_, the human representative for Hades, the God of the Underworld.

"I'm here to take back my brother," was the only thing he could say, not sure which of the two personas he was talking to.

"And for that, you have to appear in front of me in such a… _destructiv_e manner?"

By now, Ikki could actually understand why Minos and Aiacos quickly kneeled down (Aiacos, he noticed, with a bit of difficulty) the moment Shun's dark eyes hardened when he asked the first question. He felt like grovelling on the ground the few times he was brave enough to look into his brother's eyes.

'_Since when is Shun able to do this to people?'_ "…"

"Do you even realise that your actions of invading my castle and grievously injuring one of my Judges, as well as other Spectres, have breached the agreement that Athena and I have settled upon?"

"I failed to notice that just wanting to see my brother will make me breach the agreement."

"If it is to see me that make you do all these kinds of destruction, I fear of what you will really do for your _real_ intention."

Ah, damn. He should have known his brother was too observant to be outsmarted by the likes of him. "Then, you should understand why I'm doing this."

But the dark light that he saw in Shun's eyes disagree. "No, I don't. I don't understand why you are wasting your time on something that will never happen."

"What do you mean by tha--"

"I've talked to you about this, brother. I am not returning to Athena. Or to you."

* * *

Silence went for a long while the moment the words came out from Shun's mouth. The three Judges kept to themselves; Minos and Aiacos remained on their kneeling spots, eyes obediently strained on the ground, and Rhadamanthys rigidly stood by his young Lord's side.

All three were able to sense the utmost tension between the two siblings. They knew this was a moment where they were not supposed to witness, but they knew even at Shun's order, they would not leave him.

Not with the one man he was weak against emotionally.

The two Judges on the ground looked up, and Rhadamanthys took up his fighting stance again – one that he was glad Shun did not stop him from doing –, when Ikki moved forward with a determined air around him.

"One more step forward, brother, and I have to let the Judges do whatever they want with you." That seemed to be able to stop the Saint in his tracks, but his glare only hardened further.

"And you really think that will be enough to stop me?"

Shun opened his mouth to say something, but words came out from Rhadamanthys' mouth first. "We will do anything, and everything to stop you from touching even a single hair on our Lord."

"_I am his bro--_"

"May we apologise in his stead for the manner he has used to see you and the destruction he has caused along the way, Lord Shun?"

All heads turned to see two more Saints' sudden appearance, and their face expression mirrored their surprise, except for Shun whose face remained calm.

"Sagittarius Aiolos and Aries Mu, it is a pleasure to see both of you again."

The small smile produced from the younger's lips helped the Gold Saints to calm down. The Shun who they knew from was still there, albeit in a colder manner that what they used to.

Mu slightly bowed his head in the former Saint's direction, showing his respect towards the one whose position was equivalent to the Holy Pope among Athena's Saints. "We apologise for not informing you earlier of our arrival _and_," at this he glanced at Ikki, "the problem that one of us could have caused."

Said Saint kept his mouth shut, not looking at any of the two Saints; eyes remained on his brother, who instead has his attention on the two newcomers.

A small chuckle coming from the youngest among them shocked the rest from the tension around them. The three Underworld Judges looked at their Lord worriedly.

"Shun-sama?" Aiacos made a point of trying to stand up, but still trying not to show his pain of doing so.

"Aiacos, please refrained yourself from moving too much. I would prefer it if you don't hurt yourself further." In a blink of an eye, Shun has moved to Aiacos' side, concern obvious on his face.

He has moved past his brother without even a glance.

"Y-yes, Shun-sama. I'm sorry for worrying you."

A small smile graced Shun's face at the answer, before directed his attention back to the three Saints.

"I'm sorry, but I don't think this is not the right time, nor the right place to discuss anything further. I have to see to my Spectres about their injuries."

"Wait! I still need to--"

"We understand, and we apologise again for the trouble that our fellow comrade had caused," Mu quickly intercepted Ikki's words, seeing how both Minos and Rhadamanthys have quickly moved to Shun's side.

"Well, then, until we meet again, Sagittarius Aiolos, Aries Mu and Phoenix Ikki." With that, Shun turned his back to the Saints, leading his Judges back into his castle, with Aiacos being helped by Minos.

They could only watch him go, two with the feelings of relief and one with remorse.

"Let's go, Ikki-kun," quietly, Aiolos tugged at Ikki's arm, knowing he would not move with his own will.

"But, I still have to…"

"Listen! You coming here had caused more than enough trouble to both Athena and Shun-kun. Do you even realise the danger of doing that? The Spectres are still distrustful of us, and it was only for Shun-kun's sake that they did not kill you the moment they found you!"

"I was able to defeat Aiacos!"

"That's because he _refused to hurt his Master's brother_!"

That stopped Ikki. Aiolos sighed and Mu could only shake his head ruefully. It was obvious from the Bronze Saint's expression that he did not expect that at all.

"Ikki," the Aries said in a gentler manner than Aiolos. "Everyone is trying to make this work; Athena, your friends, us the Gold Saints, even the Spectres and especially Shun. Don't you think it will hurt him the most if you are the one who fights against this?"

"I… I didn't mean to. I just wanted to take him back with us."

"That is not going to happen, Ikki, no matter how you, _we_ want it. Shun has made his decision." That caused Ikki to flinch, but Mu continued on. "Shun belongs with them now, and he has made that obvious in front of us. It was just that you were not with us at that time."

All three of them knew why Ikki was not there; the day Shun let go of his ownership on Andromeda Cloth, as well as his Sainthood.

"Right now, Shun is hurt with your actions. Not only you did not try to understand his decision before, you even came here uninvited and hurt his Spectres, who have nothing to do with him making that decision. Give him time, and give yourself time to accept it too."

He knew. Ikki knew he had hurt his brother in some ways by coming here, after what had happened between them. Even until now, he still refused to believe that his brother was no longer with him, no longer fighting by his side for the same cause.

And more importantly, he refused to believe that Shun was finally making his own decision, and that he, the older brother, was unable to accept his brother's decision.

But he could not do it. He could not make his brother feel guiltier about his decision, even when he still needed to grasp the truth that his brother no longer needed him to live. So for now…

"Let's go home, Mu, Aiolos, to Sanctuary and Athena."

"Yes, let's go. But before that, look up, Ikki."

Ikki looked up at Hades' castle at Mu's words and saw Shun looking down at them from a window.

They continued to watch as Rhadamanthys then appeared beside Shun, whispered something into his ear, and before going back into the castle, Shun gave a small smile and the Judge gave a quick nod to the Saints.

Those actions were enough to tell Ikki what he needed to know for now.

Rhadamanthys' nod said, _We will protect him no matter what, now that he is ours to take care of._

And Shun's smile told him, _Thank you, and I'll see you again soon, Nii-san._

* * *

And that's it for the third installment for 'His New Duty' universe. Ikki finally made his appearance and I think I bullied Aiacos a bit too much.

Thank you for reading and C&C are well-appreciated.

Unsugar


	3. The Night We Moved On

**Title:** The Night We Moved On

**Fandom:** Animanga – Saint Seiya

**Summary**: Shiryu confronts Shun about his decision, and that sets him to think about their life knowing each other. [Set before 'His Duty as A Human'. Characters: Shiryu, Shun.]

**Warning:** AU. Angry, doubtful Shiryu, and cold Shun. You have been warned.

**A/N: **The event in this installment took place one week before 'His Duty as A Human'.

**Disclaimer:** Not. Mine. Happy now?

* * *

"Ah, I'm sorry, Shiryu!"

"It's alright. Be careful next time." Shiryu watched the man stumbled on his feet before leaving him on the stairs hastily.

That man was the third foot-soldier that had tripped in front of him. Not that he would blame them. Ever since they returned to Earth by the end of the Holy War, everyone else had been walking on eggshells around them. Even more so now, thanks to the event that happened just that evening.

'_Thank you for everything, everyone, but this is where we part. I've decided to take the offer that Lord Hades gave me.'_

The Dragon Saint frowned at the memory. It was like a dream, a nightmare, when those words were spoken by the familiar, gentle voice. Especially when looking into the eyes of the person speaking it.

It was hard to imagine, let alone see with his own eyes, how cold Shun can be. The gentle, kind boy that he had always known since childhood was almost gone, replaced by the cold, emotionless young man.

It was not something he wanted to see in the other boy, not that Shun listened to anyone else now.

He could not understand anything that was happening now. Something had been changing slowly for the last few weeks that it was almost undetectable; Athena worrying about every small thing, Shun became withdrawn and quiet, and some of the revived Gold Saints had been restless.

And it used to be so peaceful before, shortly after the end of the Holy War and the Gold Saints' return. What has changed? Did something happen that he and some of the Bronze Saints need to know, but do not know?

Shiryu continued to walk down the stairs deep in thought, until he saw a lone figure standing in front of the graveyard. Recognising the person, he moved slightly faster; in curiosity or something else, he did not know.

"Shun?"

Blank, green eyes looked up at him from staring at the almost empty graveyard. Coming closer, the Dragon Saint realised what the other boy has been looking at; the former graves of the once deceased Gold Saints.

"Shiryu? I don't expect to see you at this time of the night, down here of all places."

Even the way he spoke had somehow changed, as well as the way he carried himself. It was one of the slow but sure changes that not all see in Shun, but suddenly became too obvious just that evening.

"I'm on my way down, just to think on my own. You?"

A light chuckle came out of the shorter boy beside him, a hand fisted in front of his mouth to stifle it.

'_Another behaviour that he never has before…'_ Shun did not have a loud laugh, but he never try to stifle his laughter either.

"Such coincidence. I've been doing the same thing."

"What have you been thinking about? I don't think you have anything else, not after the decision you made."

He did not mean to be rude and harsh, but the words came out on their own and he did not get to stop his mouth from saying it.

Although he did not regret; that was what he had in mind anyway.

But his blood did almost freeze up with the way Shun looked at him. They were tinted with a calm anger; but what shocked him the most was the obvious hurt that he saw there.

But it only lasted for a few seconds before Shun turned away from and looked at the graves again, the thoughtful look returned to his feminine face.

"Hmm, I wonder. I guess I'm not supposed to regret my decision."

"If you're going to regret your decision, then why make that decision in the first place?" Shiryu could almost feel the anger that he supressed bubbling inside him. This was not the time to confuse and mislead others, but Shun had done just that.

"… I wonder why."

"Aren't we your friends? How can you do this to us?"

"It's because all of you are my friends that I'm doing this."

That answer stunned him. A few seconds later, he lashed out, almost in anger. "You don't have to sacrifice yourself for everything bad that is happening, Shun! This is just you trying to do everything by yourself. Aren't we supposed to help each other?"

"… But this is something that only I can do, and it has nothing to do with sacrificing myself."

"This is not the time to be joking!" Shiryu had to admit, he got some sort of satisfaction to see the surprised expression on Shun's face. He had been too calm lately that it starting to infuriate him. "What's happening to you, Shun? You have become too secretive lately, not even Ikki can talk to you about it."

"…"

The silent went on for a while, Shiryu not knowing what else to say, until Shun whispered, "I'm sorry."

"Huh?" He tried to take a good look when the other apologised, but Shun had turned to look another way, looking at the nearby villages instead of the graves, or Shiryu.

"… I don't know how to tell you guys. I've been talking about it with Athena, as well as some of the Gold Saints, but with you guys, I have no words for it."

"You don't trust us?"

"_NO!_" Shun exclaimed, turning to him at such speed with a desperate look on his face, shocking Shiryu. "You, Hyoga, Seiya and brother are the people that I will trust with my life, in this life, or the previous."

"Then why didn't you tell us, Shun?! Didn't you see Ikki's face when he left this evening?"

Shun visibly flinched, and Shiryu realised it was a low blow. Of course the younger boy had seen Ikki's face, he was the center of everything that happened. Everyone who was there was able to see the expression on Ikki's face before he turned his back towards his younger brother and left Athena's temple.

Quickly he moved to Shun's side, putting his hands on the small shoulders, which he noticed were shaking. "I… I'm sorry. That's too much of me to say that."

"No… It's alright. It's just that…"

"Just that…?"

Shun let out a shaky sigh, putting one hand on top of one of Shiryu's larger ones. "I was expecting for you to be willing to wait for me to explain to all of you personally. It was difficult trying to talk to your family about private things when there are others around, don't you think so?"

The Dragon's hands tightened on the small shoulders at that. With that, everything else made sense. Shun's reluctance to talk, sudden withdrawal from the rest of them and closeness to some of the Gold Saints and secret meetings with Athena. And there were them, their group; still close, but rarely seen without a Gold Saint around.

How come he can be so stupid not to see that? Why can't he see the reason behind Shun's change of behaviour? Why can't any of them see that Shun was scared of how his life changing at a rate that he can't control? And that his friends, _his family_ will be out of his life before he can do anything about it?

The older boy smiled sadly, a hand went up to ruffle the green hair, in the way that he knew Ikki did to Shun all the time.

"Shiryu?"

"It's nothing. You know you can come to any of us anytime, right?" He was definitely pleased to see Shun smiled back at him albeit a bit confused, a part of his old self apparent in that gesture.

As they walked side by side, Shun's shoulder bumping into his upper arm, smiling, talking and laughing with him, Shiryu only had one thought left in his once doubtful mind.

At least he knew that whatever that was going to happen after this, when all of them would move on from here, they still have their friendship and bond in their hearts.

They still have a week left with Shun, and surely that time would be enough; to see into the boy who has a heart bigger than his life.

---------------

**Another A/N:**

Done with the third installment of 'Another Life'! And this time it was from Shiryu's point of view.

It was hard for me to write him, because I can't seem to be able to understand his notion of thought in the series. So I just go along with the usual stuff about him: he a lot about his friends. But it was still hard for me to write him. So I apologise here in case any of my readers think that Shiryu was somehow out of character (Because, honestly, I can't see Shiryu lashing out in anger, but I wrote him like that here).

_To the readers:_ Thank you so much for the support you gave to this AU! It inspired me to write like nothing else.

_To Jenny DeVic:_ Thank you for your review and opinion! I have been thinking about the titles for sometimes, as I wanted to use them as a sign of respect and of how a certain character is to another character. But since it proves to be confusing, I decided to forgo with them for this chapter (Not that it's obvious, since these two don't use honorifics with each other).

Thank you for reading, and C&C is greatly appreciated.

Unsugar


	4. Time to Fall Apart and Start Anew

**Title: **Time to Fall Apart and Start Anew

**Fandom:** Animanga – Saint Seiya

**Summary:** Shun's journey in finding the right path for him; his emotions, confusion, and need to have a solid ground to stand on. [Set before 'The Night We Moved On'.]

**Warning:** Craziness. Angst!Shun. A certain manipulative God of the Underworld. And insanely long.

**A/N:** This fic is in pieces, following quite closely everything that happened that lead to the event in mentioned in 'The Night We Moved On'. Or so I hope.

**Disclaimer:** Not. Mine. Happy now?

* * *

It started with a dream.

He was in the middle of Elysion, alone. But there was a voice somewhere in his head. A familiar, unwelcoming voice.

It was Hades, the God of the Underworld, who he thought they had killed. A dark chuckle responded to that line of thought.

'_Silly child, do you really think it is that easy to kill a God?'_

The young Saint flushed, uncharacteristically rude in response to that remark. _'What do you want?'_

Moments later, he woke up, started and panting slightly. The next second he had taken a robe and was already out of the Virgo temple. He had to talk to Athena, and was really glad that the guards trusted him enough to let him into Athena's temple in the middle of the night.

Athena had to know about Hades appearing in his dream and his reason why.

* * *

Barely a week after that dream, the most amazing miracle happened.

The Gold Saints, and some of the Silver Saints, were coming back to life.

He, Athena and the rest of the Saints watched, astounded, as one by one of the deceased Saints appeared in Athena's temple, dazed and confused as to know they were still breathing, still alive.

It was amusing to see both Saga _and_ Kanon being revived as the Gemini Saint.

It was slightly hilarious to watch as Shion and Dohko grumbled, saying that they had lived long enough; finally dead only to be revived not even a year after the Holy War.

But it was more amazing to see Aiolia, face pale from being dead, paled even further when he met his older brother, who was not actually _older_ now, as Aiolos was revived at the same age he died.

The scenario was funny and a thing to be laughed at, but he and Athena dreaded of what this meant, and the others were busy being confused and shocked.

'_I need your help, and I'll give Athena her Saints back to assure you that I am sincere.'_

The young Bronze feared for what kind of favor Hades need that make he went as far as willing to revive the dead.

* * *

After all the confusion and chaos had lessened (to some extent), a celebration was done in an elaborate manner.

It was also the time for everyone to catch up with each other. Shiryu was delightedly talking to his Master and Shura, all the while trying not to talk to a certain Cancer Saint. Hyoga was in a corner, talking to Camus, while trying not to get distracted by Milo. Ikki had some sort of a silent staring contest with the equally silent Virgo Saint, and Seiya was acting stupid in front of most of the rest.

But he was off having a serious discussion with Shion, Aiolos and Saga, and their corner was frequently visited by their Goddess.

It was certainly not a celebration time for them.

Hades' wry remark about the celebration later on reminded him to stand on his guard.

* * *

The next few weeks were a peaceful period, used by the Saints to strengthen the Sanctuary's security and themselves. There were puzzled questions of why bother doing it when the Holy War was over.

Those who asked were ignored and they learned to keep quiet and follow orders, all in their own time.

He and the rest stayed by Athena's side as long and as frequent as they can, worrying about things they were not even sure happening.

For those weeks, no dreams (or premonitions, in Shion's words) came to him that he started to think that all of these was a dream of its own.

They also became closer with the Gold Saints, now finally given the time to know each other better. He amazingly became good friends with Aphrodite, found himself frequently pranked by both Milo and Deathmask, and gained amazing mentors in the forms of Shaka and Aiolos. The latter was simply amazing to still have time for him after the ever-energetic Seiya.

Shion, Dohko and Saga had been amazingly supportive of him. They could see that he was scared, and had been pulling him back to reality when he almost lost himself in worry, and unable to let it out to any of his close friends.

Shaka, not knowing anything from his mouth, but somehow still knew, told him frequently: "Do what you think is right. It is not about how people look at you, but about how you look at them. Think of how you loved and cared about them, not how they supposed to love and care about you."

The Andromeda Saint hold on to these words, knowing that as long as he believed in them and in himself, he could go on with anything that Hades throw at him.

Until he got another dream. This time Hades appeared in front of him, face solemn and decisive.

'_The time is near. You have to make your decision soon. You may take your time, but remember time that belongs to others will be lost along the way._'

That dream scared him more than nothing else. He clung tight to everything everyone had told him all night, not being able to return to sleep, fearing of really losing himself when no one was looking.

* * *

It was not like he never tried talking about those dreams with his friends. He tried, determined as he was, to find the right time to spill it out.

But it was simply too hard to gather all of them together. They were lucky enough to get Ikki to stay, but he still preferred to be alone. His brother drove Aiolia nuts too many a time to be counted on fingers by being missing all the time.

Talking to them one by one was not an option. It was too exhausting for him to repeatedly telling the same thing that had been haunting him. Besides, Shiryu and Hyoga did not actually know his connection with Hades in the first place (1), and Seiya had been so happy and cheerful lately that just the idea to wipe off that smile hurt him.

Ikki, however, was a different matter altogether. He was not just a friend and fighting comrade, but a true-blood brother that had gone hell and back with and for him.

Surely he would understand.

Then Ikki had gone and snapped at him when he casually mentioned about the possibility of Hades being alive.

"He's gone and gone. I don't want to think of why you want to talk about him now."

That shut his mouth, and he promptly cancelled the idea to tell others.

* * *

It was too soon that the nightmare began.

The Sanctuary received news from various parts of the world that people who were supposed to be dead returned to their homes after their bodies were buried or burned. At first their families received them with open arms and happiness, until they realised that while the dead was alive and speaking to them, the body had already dead and unable to hold the undead souls.

By the end of the second month the news arrived, most of the undead had lost their humanity and the only thing they wanted was to be sent back where they belong: the Underworld.

And those were the souls who had lived their life in the non-destructive manner.

Chaos spread out when souls of evil and dark hearts disturbed the peace of the living ones. Unable to live, yet refused to return to the world of the dead, they created havoc and instilled fear of those who were scared of being the victims.

Especially when they started to hurt and kill when their pain was too overwhelming to be quenched on their own.

Forced to witness the horrifying event on the Andromeda Island when he was visiting his Master, he realised what Hades meant by the time was near.

There were only two paths for him to choose, and the Underworld God knew him well enough to know which he would choose to stop the madness.

In his mind he screamed, cursing the manipulative God in every manners he had seen others did.

* * *

And as expected, Athena refused to let him go.

Ever the optimistic one, she firmly believed there must other ways to solve this world-wide problem, without sacrifing one of her Saints who she had learned to love like a family.

But as time went on, and various things had been done, and it was soon obvious to everyone who knows that there was simply no other way that a living soul could do, except to accept what had been offered by the God of the Underworld himself.

Every night he dreamed of everything that happened; the chaos that happened in the living world as well as the disturbance due to lack of order in the Underworld. He tried to stay awake, but exhaustion always managed to claim him and the nightmares continued.

Hades was trying to make a point: _You could never run away from what you have to do_.

On that night of realisation, he finally broke down in the arms of his ever-waiting mentor, surrendering to the painful reality that he had to face alone.

* * *

But soon after that, he realised that even if this was _his_ painful reality, he could still have people to fall back onto.

His breaking down shocked the two oldest in the Sactuary, and terrified Athena. He somehow held a grudge towards Shaka for telling them, although he also knew the Virgo Saint had to.

"You don't have to do this alone," was what Shaka said with that small smile of his when he asked.

Of course, he was still clueless as to what he had to do, and Hades had not been appearing in his dreams; the current dreams he was having still haunted him like nothing else.

Maybe that was supposed to be his lessons, but it failed to teach him anything, only reminded him that he had to do something, and fast.

But a few nights later, those nightmares slowly changed. If before he was invisible to the eyes of the people in those dreams, now he was able to interact with them. Not with the ones in the living world, but the ones in the Underworld.

He dreamed of talking to the Spectres who are involved in handling the souls to where they were supposed to, lending his hands whenever his skills were needed and mostly leading the army of the Underworld.

What concerned him the most however, was that the Spectres were at ease talking to him in those dreams. As if they were used to him, used to his ways of doing things.

How he was at ease at doing all these duties, even if they were only his dreams.

He woke up that day with a resolution, finally sure of what his roles in all these.

At the back of his mind, he thought he heard Hades sighing in relief at his determination.

* * *

Even after the Holy War and before his world starting to crumble apart, he still vigorously trained, sometimes alone, mostly with other Saints.

But rarely he did not have his chains with him, except for the few times he needed to improve on his hand-to-hand combat.

The chains were a part of him, just as his Andromeda Cloths, and the feeling of letting go of it almost terrified him. It was as if he was about to let go a part of his heart; his soul.

But what terrified him the most was of how the Andromeda Cloth had reacted to his cosmos, just a few hours after he made up his mind.

Needless to say, he was stunned to sense the dark feeling he got just from looking at it, settled gracefully on a small altar that had been made from the Cloth's box.

He rose from his bed hastily, and moved to kneel beside the Cloth. Slowly, his fingers trailed gently along the armor, sensing what he had hoped he was hallucinating.

His treasured Cloth was responding to the small changes of his cosmos, as if telling him that it was willing to go anywhere with and for him.

Tears trailed down his cheeks as he whispered to his closest companion in life, battle and death, "You can't. Your sole purpose is to protect the Saint born under the Andromeda constellation, who fights for and alongside Athena and her Saints; who has no obligation to others. Thank you for staying with me and not giving up on me all this time, but this is as far as our bond can go."

As the dark feeling radiating from the Cloth dimmed, the tears rolled down faster from his eyes, especially when he saw drops of tears from those unseeing eyes of the Cloth.

He stayed there until the sky turned orange from the first light of the morning sun, feeling not for the first time, a pair of gentle, loving arms around him, comforting him.

'_I'm sorry… I understand. But for now, I'll stay with you, as long as time allows me to.'_

* * *

Few days following his decision, nothing else happened. Then words started to arrive, saying that the undead souls had somehow started vanishing, rotten corpses stayed lifeless without those restless souls.

The news had spread relief and happiness throughout Sanctuary. But the same atmosphere could not be felt in Athena's Temple.

Shion and Dohko looked at him with gloomed, determined faces, Aiolos and Saga did not say a thing ever since he arrived, Shaka decided earlier on to remain unwavered in whatever decision his young charge had made while Athena's flushed cheeks streaked with dried tears.

He had first told his decision to the Virgo Saint and Athena, and followed closely were the Pope and the other three Gold Saints.

He was not ready to reveal the truth to anyone else, even his closet comrades. He was simply not ready to leave this life just yet. _They_ were not ready to let go of him just yet.

Thus, when the others came in, happy and in the mood to celebrate, they cleaned their expressions of any remorse and regret, and turned to them with bright smiles, so fake he wondered why none of them noticed.

Hades, now frequently in his mind, praised him for being able to to do it without blinking an eye.

He only scowled inwardly at that.

* * *

Continuously after that, he noticed there were changes not only around him, but also within him.

The way he talked to people, the way he moved, even the way he thought; they were small changes, but continuous and showed no sign of stopping.

He did not know what to think of that. He wondered if anyone else noticed, and if they think of them badly.

"Shun… Has become more, what's the word, _dignified_ recently. What happened?" Jabu once asked, in a joking manner. But he was aware that Unicorn was really serious in knowing the answer.

And as much as he liked the guy as a friend, there was no way he could trust him the way he trusted the four Saints in his group, and even with them he was scared to discuss to them.

It did not help matter when Seiya replied for him saying that being Shaka's apprentice and close to the Pope helped him to become that way.

It was one of those rare times he truly wished that Seiya can keep his mouth shut and stop talking for others.

He stomped off, causing confusion in his fellow Saints, when he heard Hades laughing in his mind.

* * *

He was casually training with Hyoga and his brother, watched by Shaka, Camus and Aiolia, when he sensed an unfamiliar cosmos coming to their direction. Seconds later, a dark shadow loomed before dropping just in front of him. Others instinctively moved into fighting stance, but he only stood there, stunned.

He could not fight back, because his body did not recognise the dark shadow as an enemy. It was Wyvern Rhadamanthys.

The Judge was about about to say something, but Aiolia spoke out first, with words he was sure the Sagittarius Saint would not approve would he be around. They had bad history, after all.

But with an amazing show of calmness and patience, Rhadamanthys ignored the fuming Saint and instead, turned to him. "I need to see your Goddess Athena. Please bring me to her."

The Andromeda felt his heart dropped out of his body. It was obvious that the Spectre could not tolerate being with other Saints, and only had one reason to be here, in Sanctuary. And they both knew seeing Athena was only an excuse.

He wanted to see him.

After much persuasion from him and Shaka, the others reluctantly let him to guide their guest alone. The Spectre was powerless within the boundary of Sanctuary, and he was strong enough to fight back if needed to.

Although three of them knew it would not happen.

Not even half-way going up the stairs to Athena's Temple, Rhadamanthys kneeled down in front of him in respect after making there was no one around to see them.

In his hands that he offered to the young Saint was a black jewellery case.

Slowly, he opened the case with shaking hands, golden eyes following his every movement.

Sure enough, he found the familiar gold, star-shaped pendant nestled snugly in it.

* * *

"Brother, what do you think if you and I are simply not made to stay with each other?"

He tried his best not to look at his brother's face when he asked the question out of the blue. He knew his brother was looking at him as if he was crazy, judging by how hot the stare he received on one side of his face.

"Why do you ask that?"

"Just thinking. What if I am not meant to be here, but somewhere else where you and I can not stay like this?"

A hard hand dawned on his shoulder made him flinched, before he looked up into his brother's concerned eyes.

"Stop it Shun. You're babbling nonsense."

The younger shook his head. _'If only…'_ "But there are possibilities. There always are."

"Stop it. If there's anyone here who is not meant to be here, it's me. You have all the rights to be here with everyone else."

"But I can't be by your side forever. One day we'll part ways, and there's nothing we can do about it."

"Not if I can help it, Shun!"

He did not say anything as Ikki hugged him tight, arms tightly around the center of his world. He closed his eyes, arms reaching around to hug his brother; the one that he refused to hurt no matter what, but had to hurt nonetheless.

'_If only…'_

* * *

Hiding the pendant underneath his clothes proved to be hard, especially when he noticed that his brothers' eyes were following his every move ever since their last conversation. Still, he kept the jewellery with him as a reminder of what and who he was.

Rhadamanthys did not stay after giving him the pendant, not even for the excuse he made earlier on to meet him. The Goddess did not mind, although the event seemed to take more life out of her gentle eyes.

He hated to see that, knowing his current situation had caused it. Now that he was half-way of not becoming her Saint, it was still painful to see a family got hurt.

He really wished he did not have to leave this place.

But as time moved slowly (and all too fast at the same time), he knew the time was closing on him. He was lucky that he even had time to prepare himself for this.

Although he wondered how long it would take for his heart to heal from all that happened. He could almost see the sad smile on Hades' face as an answer.

'_Maybe never…'_

* * *

His heart was beating hard and fast, as if trying to leap out of his chest. He tried to calm down by gripping his now precious pendant closer to his heart.

He knew he was doing the right thing. But he wondered if others would think the same.

Not that it mattered now.

He closed his eyes for a moment, recalling all that happened, starting from the first dream, to where he was standing now.

'_Athena, Shion, Roshi, Aiolia, Saga, Shaka, Shiryu, Hyoga, Seiya… Brother Ikki…'_

He let out a small smile, which widen as he remembered Rhadamanthys' face as he clicked the pendant into place around his neck with the Spectre as a witness.

A face of trust, future loyalty with the knowledge that he would never fall back on his promise.

'_I can do this.'_

Slowly yet determined, he opened his eyes and pushed the door to Athena's Temple and walked in. Almost all faces turned to see him came in, smiling and with happy expressions.

Until some of them noticed the glistening pendant and the sudden change of dark clothes. Then some smiles vanished and replaced with eyes narrowed suspiciously.

It was time for everything to fall apart for the human child named Shun.

Yet, despite the pain still lingering in his heart, the smile remained on his gentle face, as it was also the time for his life to start anew.

* * *

(1) Going by the anime, I don't think Shun was aware that Shiryu and Hyoga knew about him being Hades' incarnation. How many of the Saints who were aware of it anyway?

**A/N:** I'm sorry for being late! Real life decided to be hard on me, and all my writing of the past weeks are all for my assignments. And this installment is really killing me with all the angst and trying to match up everything with the previous and future installments. I'm not going to do it this long after this, I promise myself.

This fic is so long and painful for me to write, so if you found any problem with it, plase tell me and I'll try my best to fix it.

Again, thank you reading this and sticking with this AU of mine, especially to all the reviewers of the past installments: **Gentle Mirage, Axya, meme12 and Jenny DeVic**.

Unsugar


	5. From The Sidelines

**Title: **From the Sidelines

**Fandom:** Animanga – Saint Seiya

**Summary: **He can only watch as it happens; the surprise, the betrayal, the determination and the pain unfold before them. After all, he is only one of the many spectators. [Set before 'The Night We Moved On and 'His Duty as A Human'.]

**Warning:** AU. Villain!Ikki, angst.

**A/N:** This is the event that has been mentioned in 'The Night We Moved On' and some sort of a continuation of the last part of 'Time to Fall Apart and Start Anew'.

**Disclaimer:** Not. Mine. Happy now?

* * *

We just stood there, stunned. For a while there was silence. No one could a say a word, all too shocked.

In the midst of it, Shun stood, quietly. Taking in everyone's decision. Silently, like a shadow. It was not that hard to think himself as one, with his dark clothes and all, but it was still hard to ignore him.

Him. And his gentle smile. And his calm face. And his soothing eyes.

And his words announcing his decision to join the God of the Underworld.

What had happened? Did we miss something so important that Shun decided to leave and join the one God that we, Athena's Saints, have sworn to defeat?

* * *

_We were standing there, at our usual place in the hall of Athena's Temple. With a few exceptions, which came in the form of four Bronze Saints, the rest were all the Gold Saints. _

"_Wonder what make Shun so late?" One of us mumbled; quiet so that the Bronze Saints did not hear him, but enough for us to._

_It was no longer a rare sight now, seeing the Bronze Saints with us. After all, they were the heroes during the Holy War._

_But it was a rare sight to not see the Andromeda Saint among them. He was the most punctual and would always be there before everyone else._

"_Yeah. He's been quiet too. Too quiet to belong to that group," Another replied, head nodding towards said group. A few chuckles responded to that._

_The rest of us simply smiled. It was true; that group was too rowdy for our taste. Yet something about them drew us to them. _

"_I wonder if it has nothing to do with Lady Athena being solemn too." That made the rest of us to turn our attention our Goddess, who was sitting on her throne, talking quietly on the Pope, Aiolos and Saga._

_There was truth in those words. Lady Athena has been solemn and distracted. Even when she was smiling with the recent events, it was obvious things were not getting better for her, whatever it was._

_It was around the same time that Shun had been changing, slowly but surely._

_I was not close to the gentle Andromeda Saint, but his principle of not fighting unless when he needed to was widely known, especially coming from someone surrounded by friends who seemed to prefer otherwise._

"_There you are, Shun! What took you so long…" _

_The way Seiya abruptly stopped his sentence made me and everyone else turned around, looking for what made the Pegasus turned speechless. Not that it was hard to look for._

_A sense of foreboding filled me when I saw the boy at the door, the usual gentle smile on his smooth face. _

_But the dark clothes and the star-shaped pendant were definitely unusual. The way Seiya and Ikki's eyes widen when they set their eyes on it proved it. _

_Something was going to happen, and I could not help but think it would end badly._

_Shun, however, remained ignorant with the sudden change in the atmosphere. He calmly walked forward, not looking to any of us at the sides, until he reached the center of the hall._

_After bowing low to Lady Athena and raising his head, he spoke up; his voice remained soft, yet loud and clear._

"_Thank you for everything, everyone, but this is where we part. I've decided to take the offer that Lord Hades gave me._

_I have decided to take the role as Lord Hades' representative of the Underworld."_

_There was no mistake in what he had said. Not when we could clearly hear the determination in the still gentle voice. _

* * *

I was woken from my thoughts by a soft sound of clothes rustling as Lady Athena rose from her seat, her face unreadable.

But all of us could see the turmoil in her eyes. It triggered something within me.

_She knew and she was waiting for this to happen, reluctantly._

"Shun, are you sure—"

But our Goddess did not get the chance to continue, when Ikki ran up to his brother and turned the smaller boy to face him. I could barely see the shock in the green eyes, before…

_PANG!!_

"Ikki!" Whatever Lady Athena was trying to say before was immediately forgotten. She rushed forward as Shun fall to his knees, eyes wide and a hand holding his cheek.

That sent the rest of us to move.

"Ikki! What are you doing?" Seiya snapped, moving from his spot. He was clearly confused with Shun's decision, but it certainly did not stop him from protecting one of his closest friends.

The Phoenix Saint only glanced at him. "Isn't it obvious? I'm trying to wake him up from whatever illusions he's having," he said as he turned his attention back towards the fallen boy. Only to stop in his steps.

Lady Athena, from her spot beside Shun, looked at him with a glare so intense it froze not only him, but the rest of us. It was a glare that reminded us that she was not meant to be a kind and gentle Goddess, but the Goddess of War.

"If you come any closer with the intention to _'wake him up from whatever illusions he's having'_, I suggest you to step back, Ikki."

Ikki's response was cold and cruel. "You, of all people here, Athena, should be punishing him for his words just now, not protecting him. Are you trying to tell us that all our hard word fighting Hades was not important, or was it your heart has been so influenced by humans like us that you can not punish him?"

A gasp resounded around the temple from almost everyone. "Ikki, how could you say that towards Athena?" Aiolia moved from his spot, obviously angry at his charge's words.

"I was just saying the truth. How can she lead us as a Goddess, when she can't even make up her mind when one of her Saints decided to betray her?"

"You don't even know the circumstances that come before this, so don't you dare judge her or your brother now!" Roshi's loud voice responded, obviously displeased with Ikki's behaviour.

It was easy to say he was not the only one.

Shaka had moved to Shun's other side, eyes strained on the older brother, daring him to move. Ikki ignored him.

The rest of us did nothing, most of us realising that we, just like Ikki, knew nothing that lead to this event. Hyoga and Shiryu did not move from spot, still clearly confused to do anything. Seiya had to be refrained by Aiolos to stop him from punching Ikki.

"Oh really? Wonder what kind of circumstances that make Shun and Athena so easily betray our trust that we have in them?"

At that, the rest of us moved, no longer able to tolerate the Phoenix Saint's insolent behaviour.

But a cold, emotionless voice stopped us.

"It's bad that you insulted me, but to insult your Goddess as well, do you not have your manners and pride as a Saint?"

All of a sudden, the atmosphere turned cold. All attention were directed to Shun, gasp from Shiryu and Hyoga confirmed what we had all saw.

Shun had his cold, blank eyes staring at his brother, the previous smile vanished from his face. He was no longer the Shun that I know, but another entity altogether.

For a second, the thought that came to me was how suitable for _this_ Shun to be Hades' representative.

But just after that second, the coldness vanished from the green eyes, and a sad smile appeared on the young face. He looked down at the floor for a short while, hand still on his bruised cheek, before looking up at his brother, eyes and voice was filled with determination.

He was back to the Shun we knew of.

"No matter what you said brother, I have made up my decision, and nothing will change my opinion."

Ikki did not say anything to that, shoulders tensed up as he turned and walked out of the temple, not once bother to look at the rest of us.

And no one stopped him.

Again, for a long while, silence engulfed us. No one knew what to say to the event that had just unfolded in front of us.

Shiryu and Hyoga, as well as Seiya, tried to make a step towards their quiet, comrade-turned something-yet-to-be-determined friend, when the Pope made his presence remembered.

"All of you please leave the temple. Shun will stay here with us. Anything else will be informed to you later."

The _'us'_ in his statement made themselves known as Roshi, Aiolos and Saga moved to the center where Lady Athena and Shun were still kneeling, Shaka stood unmoving beside them.

The three Bronze Saints tried to protest at that, but was dragged away by Aiolia and Camus. They turned to look at Shun and Lady Athena, but whatever they saw made them stop their protest and followed the older Saints quietly.

As I walked beside the two on the floor trying _not_ to help our Goddess to her feet, I risked a glance to the pale face of Shun.

It was obvious what his three friends saw.

Tears were slowly falling down from his face onto the floor. He did not look up at the people around him, his free hand clutching one of hers tightly on the floor.

A look and my heart almost stopped, realising what it meant.

Shun never meant, never wanted to leave this place; his place, his right in this world.

He simply had to. For everyone, here and everywhere. And for the one who had just walked out on him.

* * *

5th installment done! This is certainly short, compared to the previous one. I hope no one mind about the length.

About this installment: This can be from anyone's point of view among the Gold Saints that I did not mention their names. Which means Saga, Aiolos, Aiolia, Shaka and Roshi are out. It is not intended for me to make you guess, but feel free to do so.

A lot of thanks for **Mnemonsyne Saga**, **meme12** and **Jenny DeVic** for your reviews!

Thank you for reading, and C&C are well appreciated.

Unsugar


	6. We'll be by Your Side

**Title:** We'll be by Your Side; From Now and Forever

**Fandom:** Animanga – Saint Seiya

**Summary:** As he watches, Aiacos realises that Shun has has his loyalty long before they meet as a Lord and his subordinate. [Set after 'His Duty as A Human']

**Warning:** AU. Maybe OOC-ness abound.

**Disclaimer:** Not. Mine. Happy now?

* * *

They walked down the stairs, the new Lord of the Underworld walking between them quietly. Rhadamanthys was behind him, attention only on the young boy. Once in a while, Minos glanced back towards the top of the stairs, where Athena and her Saints stood watching them.

Aiacos looked down at the boy on his left, not knowing what to think of him.

It was a shock, for all of them, to find out that their Lord is coming back to them. Their happiness, however, was cut short when their Lord will be in the form of a 14-years-old boy who was once (and supposedly forever be) their enemy.

Rhadamanthys, to their most surprise, accepted the news in a calm manner, even volunteering to meet and escort their young Lord back to their domain, if others refused to do so.

"_No matter what we think, it's Lord Hades' decision, and we as his Judges must follow everything. Maybe something good will come out from this. For us, and our new Lord."_

He had to admit, he was amazed with Rhadamanthys' calm response to it. He had expected for the Wyvern to burst out angrily, not willing to accept a young human who once fought them like nothing else matters.

But then again, Rhadamanthys had been the one who faced him and that Pegasus Saint, and watched the interaction between them as the young boy possessed by the Underworld God for the first time.

'_Maybe he knows something that we don't, and decided to wait and see…'_

"Aiacos?"

He snapped out of his thoughts when a voice called his name softly. He looked down to his left again and straight into the green eyes looking up at him curiously.

"Yes, Andr-- My Lord?"

He almost let out the boy's previous status, before quickly covering it up. His fellow Judges stared at him for his slip-up, but Shun only looked at him with his head slightly tilted up, before smiling gently.

"Nothing, really. It's just that you seem to be quiet," the young Lord said, the smile still on his face, ignoring the slip-up of his name.

"I'm sorry. I have my thoughts on something else just now."

"And you dare to turn your attention away from our Lord?" Rhadamanthys huffed from behind them, obivously displeased with the other's excuse.

He glared at the other Judge, daring him to continue. Minos just shook his head, and Shun giggled quietly before leaning slightly towards the Garuda. Out of instinctive respect, he moved closer.

"It's alright. It's understandable why you are still thinking and in doubt. I would be, if I'm in your position," his Lord said quietly, eyes still focused to the front.

He almost stood still there, before hastily picking up his pace beside Shun again, before the two Judges make another comment. Shun, looking at him again, gave him another one of those gentle smiles again, as if reassuring him. A smile that was, for some reason, strangely familiar.

'_But this is the first time I met him face to face. Unless he has been…'_

Something clicked in Aiacos' mind. The shadow they have been seeing; the very same one that had been walking around with them to guide the dead souls to their rightful place in the Underworld…

It amazingly resembled everything about their new Lord. His height, his face, his way of talking and walking, his smiles…

Aiacos remembered it just like yesterday.

* * *

_Without the God of the Underworld to provide the balance needed, the mortal world was not the only one in a chaotic state. The spectres, who had been amazingly revived by their God, were not able to go out to the mortal world. Not with Hades still weak after having his immortal body injured and losing the latest Holy War._

_But that was the least of their worries. Gods could recover the vitality of their body, no matter how long of time they have to take. The matter was how the two worlds could remain balanced until the God of the Underworld gained enough strength to rule once again._

_Until the mysterious shadows started to appear._

_At first it seemed to avoid coming close, as if afraid of the Specters. After millenia of experience with dead souls, most of them realised quickly that this mysterious existence was not of the dead ones, but a soul that was not truly meant to be with them. Curious but did not have time to deal with it; they simply ignored it at first._

_Rhadamanthys was the first to approach the unknown being, feeling that it might help them. From where he got that idea, Aiacos and Minos never learned to know. The Wyvern did not say anything, just went closer and held out a large hand._

_And imagine their surprise when it accepted the hand that reached out with a smaller hand; so fragile and so… human. _

_Since then, the shadow started to become more apparent, as he moved along with them, helping them in their task. No, not helping; but guiding them through their task. _

_Bit by bit, they started to see the shadow as not just an entity; but also someone they respected. His capabilities not only to handle the souls, but also the always-restless Spectres astounded them and deep inside their hearts, slowly accepting him as the one who lead them in place of their God of the Underworld._

* * *

'_Those smiles, the small gestures, everything about him; is all about our Lord in front of me. It is him, our Lord, who has been guiding us even before he made up his mind in joining us.'_

That final realisation brought Aiacos to a new understanding. And by then, he was already standing in front of the carriage that would be carrying Shun to his new domain; the Hades Castle just above the gate to the Underworld.

His new Lord, too young and was most probably scared and nervous in doing this just as they were feeling in accepting him, stood there watching Rhadamanthys preparing for them to leave. The smile given to him previously was no longer there, just a gentle look and a flicker of curiousity remained on his face.

Then Shun did something that sealed Aiacos' loyalty to this one human, just after his God; he turned to look at the Sanctuary behind them and said quietly, "Goodbye, my old life. I'm leaving for my new family now."

A quiet look of mixed happiness and sadness appeared in his expression.

Stepping in front of the young man between him and the carriage, Aiacos held out a hand to his Lord, bowing low.

Surprise was obvious on the young face, and he could feel the same feeling radiating from the other two Judges beside him, but he remained firmly there.

"My Lord Shun, please remember; no matter what happen after this, we will be by your side, forever if you want us to."

As the young Lord put his smaller hand in his, the smile Aiacos received then was the brightest light he had seen in his life as a Spectre.

Yet he was not blinded by it.

Never will.

* * *

**A/N:** I always see Aiacos in The Lost Canvas as someone who can be very loyal to his Lord if he is given enough reasons to give that loyalty. Since we never get to see Aiacos' real personality in the original series (except that he was damn confident of his skills, only to have it biting him in the ass), I'm just making his personality here the same as in TLC.

Anyway, 6th installment done! I wrote this amazingly quick, and it is one of my favourites. Maybe because I like both Shun and Aiacos.

Talking about favourites, I wonder if anyone is willing to tell me which installment is their favourite and why. I would like to think how readers think of them.

Thank you for reading, and C&C are always appreciated.

Unsugar


	7. The Time of Our Life

**Title:** The Time of Our Life

**Fandom:** Animanga – Saint Seiya

**Summary:** After a long while, they talked about their robbed childhood for the first and last time. [Set before 'His Duty as A Human']

**Warning: **AU. Can be seen as shonen-ai, but I would prefer to use the term 'childhood friends' here.

**A/N:** I still haven't written on Seiya and admitttedly, I have problems with his characteristics and how he stole the limelights from everyone. So here's my third try.

**Disclaimer:** Not. Mine. Happy now?

* * *

Seiya gruffly rubbed his eyes. Looking around and judging from the light outside, he had fallen asleep right after visiting Seika that afternoon.

Realising the time, he quickly stood up and went to the door. _'Ah, damn. It's my turn to cook dinner.'_

Lucky for him, Aiolos was a much calmer man than his younger brother and seldom got angry at him for various mistakes he usually prone to make. But exactly because of that he did not want to dissapoint the older Saint.

He was about to turn the knob when he heard another voice talking to the Sagittarius Saint. _'We have a visitor?'_ Seiya quickly straigtened his hair and clothes, and went out to greet the owner of the familiar voice.

"Ah, Seiya. You're awake. I hope you don't mind me visiting."

"Eh? There's nothing with you visiting. You are welcomed just like everyone else. Would you stay for dinner?"

"Well… Since Aiolos has been asking too, I guess so."

The older Saint only smiled. "There's no way Seiya would mind having you here, since that means he won't be cooking dinner. I don't want him to poison you."

"Hey, that's rude!"

Shun's laughter that follows managed to take Seiya's anger in less than a second. He smiled at his childhood friend, only to receive another smile.

Between them, Aiolos silently looked at them with approval.

'_Nothing will change between these two, I supposed.'_

He was worried for nothing.

* * *

After dinner, Seiya insisted for Shun to stay over for the night. Shun tried to reason that he was not staying that far away (the Virgo Temple) and _Seiya, you know I can protect myself and this is Sanctuary, dammit!_, but to no avail.

He should have known he would never win any argument with Seiya.

Then they argued about where he should sleep that night. He insisted on the couch, but Seiya won't let him. He insisted that Shun sleep in his bed, and he would sleep outside, but Shun vehemently won't let him. He then suggested for both of them to sleep in the room, but then Aiolos pointed out that they do not have extra comforters for any of them to sleep on the floor (they rarely get overnight visitors, unlike the Aquarius Temple).

In the end, a perplexed Shun and a nonchalant Seiya slipped into Seiya's bed together after taking an extra blanket and pillow from a laughing Aiolos.

All in all, it was an amusing night for the older Saint. Not that he would tell any of them.

* * *

There was silence for a few minutes. Now that it was only the two of them, Seiya's mind went back to the event that happened a few days ago. He still could not get it out of his head.

And he was still having problems accepting the notion that Shun was leaving them in few days' time.

That thought did not even occur to him when they were having dinner together, laughing and teasing each other like usual. It did not feel like Shun would be gone soon. One of his friends; one of his most important people in this world.

Seiya quickly turned his back to Shun, feeling tears starting to prick his eyes. He would not cry! Crying would not change anything; Shun already made his decision. Crying would only make Shun feel guiltier, like what happened with Ikki.

"Seiya, are you angry with me?"

The quiet voice made him turned to other occupant of the bed. Shun was not looking at him, only staring up at the ceiling. His eyes were intently strained to the small crack they found there, but the Pegasus knew Shun was about to cry as well.

Not knowing what to do, he slid closer to the older boy and threw an arm around him, startling him out of his depressing thought.

"Seiya, what--"

"Remember we used to do this at the orphanage? Whenever there was a thunderstorm, we would to go to each other's bed and sleep like this."

There was no reply at first, making Seiya think that changing the subject was a bad idea. Then Shun turned to lay on his side, an arm going around him as well, a nostalgic smile on his face.

"At first I used to go into Brother's bed. Then I found out you were also scared of the thunderstorms, so I went into yours instead. Remember his face when he first found out we were doing that?"

They laughed quietly at that memory. Ikki first found out when he was about to wake his brother and found Seiya was with him. In Shun's bed. His horrified expression made them laugh loudly instead of worrying that he might scold them, waking everyone else around them.

It was one of the best memories they had in the orphanage, among the painful ones.

Soon, the awkwardness they experienced was gone, replaced by whispered words and stiffled laughters, recalling their time at the orphanage, at that time yet to be aware of the outside world.

Yet to know of the life they would be forced to go through.

They then stopped talking to take a breath after a fit of laughter of how Seiya somehow manged to get into the water tank in order to hide from Tatsumi and Saori.

Shun's acting telling the rest that Seiya had decided to commit suicide made them laugh even harder.

Gasping for breath with an arm hugging the other boy, Seiya whipped tears of mirth from his eyes. "Those times were the best. We really thought nothing can ever separate us, not even those hellish trainings."

He realised a second too late it was the wrong thing to say when he felt Shun stiffened in his arms.

Quickly, the awkwardness came back. Still hugging each other, Seiya did not know what else to say. Shun was silent in his arms, face hidden in his neck.

Seiya was about to apologise when Shun suddenly spoke up, his head turning to lean on his shoulder. "I wish we could still be like old times. I always have that thought. Do you know that, Seiya?"

Seiya did not reply to that, but his arms were unconsciously tighter around the other. And Shun did not wait for one either.

"But as I grew up on the Andromeda Island, I was starting to lose that sight. The only thing in my head was to bring back the Cloth and see my brother again. Seeing you guys again after seven years did not even trigger those memories. Isn't it irony that all those battles after that made me remember again?"

"There's nothing wrong with that. I think everyone was the same at that time. We thought we have different priorities to be taken care of." _'Like me searching for my sister.'_

Shun leaned closer, until their forehead touched and their eyes were looking into each other. "Guess only when our lives were in danger that we remember about others."

"I'll take that as a compliment for us, then."

"Why?"

"Because usually people care about themselves rather than others."

Shun let a small giggle. He was again quiet for some time, before continuing, "Please don't hate me for my decision, Seiya. If you, of all people, were to hate me, I… I think I'll regret this decision for the rest of my life."

Seiya let out a sigh, before pulling the other closer, so close that there was almost no space between their bodies. "I can never hate you, Shun. I can't even find you annoying. So please don't think like that."

"Really?"

"Really."

"Really, really?"

"Really, really."

"Really, really, really?"

"Really… Shun, stop. Or I _will_ be mad at you." (1)

At that, Shun laughed hard, the laughter so bright that Seiya had to follow. Few minutes of laughing and grasping for breath, the Pegasus Saint said, "I know why you're doing this. I know you know this, but remember I will always be behind you to support you. … Even if I am not physically there," he continued after a while, remembering that they were not with Shun when he made the big decision.

Shun let out a small smile at the pause, before whispering, "Of course I know that. Thank you, Seiya."

"There's no need to thank me. That's what friends, _family_, are for, right?"

The only answer Seiya received were a nod into his neck, a dry sob and Shun snuggling deeper into his body.

And he understood.

* * *

Aiolos opened the door into Seiya's room quietly. He knew both of them were still asleep, judging from the laughter he heard way into midnight. Still, it was already morning and both of them, especially Shun, had others things to do.

"Seiya, Shun, it's time to wake up--"

He stopped there and decided that it was alright if they were a couple of hours late. Because for now, nothing was more important than this.

He closed the door, after taking another glance at the sleeping pair on the bed, arms around each other and peaceful smiles on their faces.

'_Nothing will ever change the feeling these two have for each other.'_

* * *

(1) Reference to 3x3 Eyes, where Pye does exactly this to Yakumo and he cries for her to stop. XD

**A/N:** I'll be prefectly honest here. I have no feelings towards SeiyaxShun, unless you count in friendship and family. And since we often see 'manly tears' in the series, I hope no one minds I'm writing these two like these. If they can cry so easily for others, surely hugging close friends is nothing, right? And I really think Shun and Seiya as childhood+best friends FOREVER is the cutest thing ever.

Oh, and the memories they mentioned here have nothing to do with the series, 'kay?

**A/N 2:** Sorry for the lateness! I just finished my Final exams. Now that I have about two months break, hopefully I get to update more frequently. Three more installments have been written, I just need to re-edit and re-read them a few more times.

Special thanks to **MimiYamatoForever**, **Mnemosyne Saga**, **Jenny DeVic**, and **doremishine itsuko** for your reviews and support!

Thank you for reading and C&C are well appreciated.

Unsugar


	8. For Me, You Are

**Title:** For Me, You Are…

**Fandom:** Animanga – Saint Seiya

**Summary:** Hyoga thinks of his last private conversation with Shun, and regrets that he was not strong enough and keeps running away. [Set after 'Taking What is Ours'.]

**Warning:** AU. Hints of HyogaxShun (slash). Angst, self!hatred and other not-healthy emotions going around.

**A/N:** It is somehow weird of me that I mostly ship this guy with Shun, yet did not write about him.

**Disclaimer:** Not. Mine. Happy now?

* * *

"_Erm… Hyoga?"_

_He turned to the boy behind him. "What is it, Shun?"_

"_I was wondering if the five of us can go out together for dinner tonight. Or maybe tomorrow night."_

_The request was not something weird for Hyoga to hear, but it was the manner that Shun had that got his interest. _

_Shun was not looking at him, but rather looking down at their feet, for once in a long while not looking confident with himself._

_The Cygnus Saint wondered why Shun did not mention this earlier, when they were training with Shaka and Camus. _

_As if reading his mind, Shun continued, "It has been quite some time since we spent time only five of us. I guess… I kind of miss it," Shun ended quietly, still not looking at him, his face red._

_Hyoga let out a small smile. It has indeed been a long time since five of them; both of them, Seiya, Shiryu and Ikki spent time together. They were busy going around to many places, either for missions given by Athena, or just for leisure. Even when they were in Sanctuary, they were usually with some of the Gold Saints. _

_All in all, they did not get to see each other, like old times._

_Sure, why not, was what Hyoga wanted to say, but then he remembered something that both Shiryu and Seiya told him earlier that day, before he went for training._

"_I would love to, Shun," he could almost feel his heart breaking when he saw Shun's hopeful face, "but Shiryu told me he will be visiting Shunrei for a few days, and Seiya said he is going away with Seika too."_

_With that, the bright expression crumbled, just like what he feared. "I met Shiryu this morning, but he did not tell me anything," Shun said, his voice quieter than it was earlier._

'What happened to us, to get this seperated and far apart?'_ Hyoga could almost hear the question coming from the younger Saint. And thank Athena he did not voice it out loud, for even Hyoga could not answer him._

_Hyoga walked closer to Shun, putting his hand on a small shoulder. "How about just three of us, then? You, me and Ikki."_

_Shun shook his head. "Brother said he won't come if there is no all of us. He said he would rather not waste his time."_

'Typical Ikki,'_ Hyoga thought, still trying to think of a way to make Shun smile again. "Then, I guess we just have to find another time?"_

"_Maybe…"_

_Seeing the usually cheerful Shun did not perk up like he supposed to, Hyoga hugged him around his shoulders. "Hey, it's not like any of us are going anywhere, right?"_

_But instead of replying, Shun only hugged him back briefly, shocking the older boy. As he pulled back, the Andromeda was smiling again, though not usual happy smile._

'Something is bothering him…'_ Hyoga was about to ask when he heard a voice calling him. Looking up, he saw Milo was waiting for him on top of the stairs, looking impatient. _

_He was about to ask the Gold Saint to wait, but Shun pushed him forward and said with a smile, "Go ahead. You don't wait Milo to go berserk on you again, right?"_

"_We'll talk about this later, okay? Just two of us."_

"_There might not be enough time left…"_

_Hyoga thought it was only his imagination to hear that, yet as he turned back briefly, Shun was fisting his hands by his side, his face full with expression of sadness and resignation._

_He did not have his chance to ask when Shun quickly walked to the Virgo Temple without looking back at him._

_That was the last time they spoke with each other, only the two of them, before Shun made an announcement that shocked him out of his life. _

_

* * *

_

Hyoga snapped out of his thoughts when he heard laughter coming from the Aquarius Temple. _Milo is visiting again_, he thought absent-mindedly.

Camus has invited him to join them, though he knew his student would most probably decline.

Hyoga knew his Master was worried about him, but even until now he did not have the heart to lie that he was fine.

Why lie, when it was obvious he was not fine?

Ikki had just returned to Sanctuary a week ago, and judging by his face he had some _talk_ with his brother that did not seem to go quite well.

Yes, he could guess where the Phoenix Saint had gone to.

Aiolia took his charge from his brother swiftly and the two had been together since then. It seemed that Aiolia had talked some sense into the younger Saint, and Ikki had been fairly calmed since coming back.

Everything was slowly turning to normal around Sanctuary. Except him.

He noticed the way Camus, Seiya, Shiryu, Miss Saori, even Milo looked at him nowadays. They knew there was something wrong with him, but they were also aware that he needed to solve this on his own.

He clenched his fists. How could everyone move on so easily in their life? Even since Shun left, his life had never been the same, yet to others nothing seemed to change.

How could they easily dismiss Shun's existence in their life?

He closed his eyes in irritation, as he remembered what happened just yesterday.

* * *

"_Hyoga?"_

_He looked up to see Seiya in front of him, looking sheepishly out of character. "What is it, Seiya?"_

"_I was thinking, since Ikki is back, want to hang out together? Four of us?"_

'From where had I heard this before?'

"_I mean, it's been a long time since we just hang around, not doing anything specific. Want to do it? Like old times."_

_Shun, he thought, Shun had asked for the same thing the time they were alone together after training._

"_How come there can be 'old times' when there are only four of us, Seiya?"_

"_Eh?"_

_He stood up from where he was sitting, towering over the confused Saint. "Shun is no longer here, Seiya. How can we do it 'like old times' when one of us is not even here?"_

_Seiya's confused eyes turned clear. "There's nothing we can do about that, Hyoga. The least we can do is to move on and—"_

"_I can't do that!" _

"_Hyoga…"_

_He ignored the younger boy. "I can't! I can't just forget that Shun does not exist in our life anymore. Nothing is ever the same. How can you easily forget about one of your closest friends, Seiya?"_

_Seiya only looked at him for a long while. He then shook his head, and turned his back at him. "Shun is not just a friend, Hyoga. He is a family, and will always be. There's no way I can ever forget about him. But I've decided to move on with my life, even without him here, because I don't want him to feel as if he had hurt us by leaving."_

"_And maybe he did, but we had hurt him too by not being us when he needed us to be. _

_Besides, Shun himself has moved on with his life."_

_Seiya left, leaving the anguished Saint alone.

* * *

_

He held his head in his hands, still trying to get the conversation out of his mind.

He knew; he _damn_ knew it was not easy for the rest to move on. But they had to, else Shun would get hurt, and Shun was hurt enough as it was.

He wondered why he did not offer to stay with Shun that day, when it was obvious that Shun was in need of a friend; to listen to him, to talk to him, to tell him everything is alright, to be by his side. To be, once again, a family.

And even if there was only him, surely that was more than enough for Shun to know that they indeed, no matter where they were or what they were doing, still cared.

If only… If only he showed that he indeed cares, then Shun might not be feeling guilty and hurt when making the most important decision in his life.

He was not there; Hyoga was not there when Shun had made up his mind, nor he was the one that was consulted.

If he was there, would these feeling of hurt, guilt and resignation still exist? Would he finally be able to move on with life and face the fact that Shun is no longer here with them; with him?

* * *

"_Why did you do this, Shun? Don't you care about all of us?"_

"_I do, Hyoga. That's why I'm doing this."_

"_Why…" _'Why didn't you tell us earlier?'

"_But I understand if you don't want to know."_

"_I…" _'I want to, but how can I tell you that, Shun?'

"_I'm sorry for not telling you earlier. I'm really sorry for hiding this from you, Hyoga."_

'No… _I'm_ sorry for not being there for you.'

'I'm sorry Shun, for not telling you I care for you more than anything else in this world that still matters.'

**

* * *

A/N:** … Oops. So someone is feeling lost after Shun had left and we're not talking about Ikki here. Not just lost, but also being angry at the world around him.

Hyoga seemed to have this tendency to hurt himself emotionally by doing things that will, well… hurt him. His issues with Isaac and his mother, to say a few.

Notice that unlike the other four in the group, Hyoga rarely acknowledges or talks about how he feels. Only when the person he has thoughts for is gone/hurt/dying/dead did he realise his feelings, and by then, angst-ness is abound.

There might be a continuation to this installment, but we shall have to wait to find out.

Special thanks to **meme12**, **MimiYamatoForever**, **The Night Queen** and **Nobara Yuki** for your reviews.

Thank you for reading, C&C are well appreaciated.

Unsugar


	9. The Mundane Life of an Underworld Lord

**Title:** The Mundane Life of an Underworld Lord

**Fandom:** Animanga – Saint Seiya

**Summary:** Shun sometimes wonders if this is a good idea, after all. [Set before 'Taking What is Ours'.]

**Warning:** AU. Utter crack, randomness that I called a plot and OOC-ness.

**A/N:** This is something totally random coming from me. I never wrote anything crack-ish for this fandom, so here goes. Can be seen as some sort of an interlude.

**Disclaimer:** Not. Mine. Happy now?

* * *

Rhadamanthys loves his Lord.

So what if his new Lord is only a 14-year-old boy, who was once his sworn enemy? He loves him the boy still.

So, imagine his fear when the moment he enters the throne room the first thing he sees is his Lord clutching his head in his hands, as if in pain.

"My Lord?"

* * *

Shun is starting to love the group of people around him.

Granted, not all of them look like people in the first place and had tried to kill him. He still loves them nonetheless.

So, he wonders if what is happening right now is some sort of a punishment for defying his fate.

He closes his eyes, thinking of what has recently happened, eyebrow scrunching. Only to open his eyes again when he hears a loud shout from the door.

"… Rhadamanthys?"

* * *

The next thing Shun realises is that Rhadamanthys is carrying him bridal-style out of the throne room, all the while mumbling unintelligible words to himself. It annoys him.

"Rhadamanthys, stop it. I'm having a headache."

Sadly that does not stop the older man. Instead, his voice grows louder. But at least now Shun understands the words.

"—For this to happen, where the hell are the guards? How dare they left the Lord alone and unattended? Those useless bastards, I blinked my eyes for just a second, and they think they can slack off because you have been kind to them. What are going to be their excuses, now that you have been attacked-"

'_Attacked?'_ Shun struggles in Rhadamanthys' arms, causing the Judge to stop walking. "What are you talking about, Rhadamanthys? I was not attacked! No one was!"

"Eh?" Rhadamanthys stops moving completely, and looks at him with a puzzled expression. "But you looked like you were in pain just now."

"I was just thinking! And I got a headache too, so-"

"Lord Shun!"

Both of them turn around to see three lower-class Spectres running towards them, whose faces turn visibly paler the moment they recognise the man holding Shun.

"L-Lord Rhadamanthys…"

Instantly, the Wyvern recognises them. "Aren't you the ones that I have ordered to guard the throne room today?"

Shun notices the intense rage in his Judge's eyes and puts his hand on his shoulder. "Rhadamanthys, listen to them first. It was not as bad as you thought it was." And with a stern look, he tells him to put him down.

Rhadamanthys puts his Lord slowly, still believing that the youth is in pain, before turning his attention to the frozen men before him. "So?"

Quickly, the three bow low, and one of them squeaks, "We are truly sorry for our behaviour, my Lord. You have given us opportunities, yet we have spoiled it. There's no way for us to be forgiven but to accept any punishment you're giving us."

Shun sighs. It is obvious that Rhadamanthys is confused by the confession.

He waves his hand dismissively. "It's nothing. You're not the first ones to do it, anyway." He ignores a gasp from the man beside him. "I have a headache, so it does not help either. You are dismissed for now, and I'll talk with all the guards later."

Still bowing profusely, the three quickly leave when the Judge glares at them. Finally, when the footsteps recede completely, he turns to his Lord.

"What just happened?"

Shun shakes his head, signalling that it is just a small matter. But when Rhadamanthys gives him a concerned look, he sighs again and explains.

"You have assigned guards for the throne room, right? Three of them at one time, with two of them by the door and one at the bottom of the steps at the throne whenever one of you Judges is around." A nod. "When there is no Judge, the one at the steps will stand beside me at the throne, right?" Another nod. "They were fighting about that."

Silence. "… Come again, my Lord?"

"They were arguing who should have the honour of standing beside me when one of you is not around. It is always like this and I usually don't mind, as long as they don't hurt each other. But today I had a headache, and today _of all days_, they were arguing in the throne room and in front of me. So I shouted at them to get out of the throne room."

There is more silence. Shun rubs his forehead, feeling the headache coming again. Rhadamanthys stays silent, looking at the boy with a horrified expression.

Shun is about to continue, when the Spectre suddenly grasps his shoulders tightly. "Rhadamanthys?"

"To make you scream, how could they? You have been kind to them and this is how they repay you. They don't even notice you hade a headache!"

'_You did not notice it too…'_ Shun thought, but decides not to say it out loud. "I'm fine now, though."

"No, it's not! How can they be the guards when they can't do their job properly! And to think that I am the one who selected them! I apologise for my mistake…"

"Rhadamanthys…" _'Another headache is coming…'_

"I'm willing to take any punishment!"

"Rhada-"

"WYVERN RHADAMANTHYS!"

"What are you doing to Lord Shun?"

Aiacos and Minos are walking towards them, faces furious (and curious) as to what happened between the two.

* * *

Minutes later, Shun retreats after watching his Judges arguing over trivial things. He is planning of going back to the throne room, but changes his mind and heads towards his bedroom instead.

He needs to sleep this over.

* * *

Shun loves the people around him. He really does. He just wishes they can shut up once in a while.

* * *

**A/N:** … Opinions? Yes, I intentionally made them act like this. I'm evil that way, and because last chapter was so serious I decided to do something lighter, even if it's making them OOC. I apologise for any mental damage that this might have caused.

Thank you for reading and C&C are highly appreciated.

Unsugar


	10. Close Your Eyes, O Warrior

**Title:** Close Your Eyes, O Warrior

**Fandom:** Animanga – Saint Seiya

**Summary:** On his deathbed, Shion meets an older Shun, smiling his smile, announcing it is time for him to finally have his right. [Set _years _after 'His Duty as A Human']

**Warning:** AU. Character death.

**A/N:** This is something totally random that came to me when I was in shower. Well, Shion has to die sooner or later, right?

**Disclaimer:** Not. Mine. Happy now?

* * *

Shion opened his eyes slowly, and for the first time in months, he did not have the painful feeling that has been invading his body attacking him the moment his eyes adjusted to his surrounding.

"Where-?" Looking around, he noticed that not only there was no source of light yet he could still see clearly, but also he had no problem moving his body.

"Physically? You're still in your temple, sleeping." A gentle voice on his left made he whirled around carefully, body still not used to being free from pain.

He looks older, was the first thought that the Pope had seeing the smiling young man.

"Well, they _think_ you're still sleeping, at least."

The Lord of the Underworld did appear older than how he looked like years ago when Shion last set his eyes on him. His face had matured although the feminine gentleness was still apparent. His once huge eyes have narrowed to be more adult-like, and while the naivety light was no longer there, he was still able to retain the innocence, kind gleam. His hair was longer too, reaching his waist, and for someone who had been training as a Saint, he has a slender waist. The smile was still on his lips, altough it was smaller and more controlled than when he was younger.

In the four years they had not seen each other, Shun seemed to have grown to a good-looking, well-balanced young man. Deep in his heart, Shion was glad his decision to leave did any good to him.

"They _think_? What about spiritually then?" Meeting Shun, of all people, in his dream, the former Aries Saint could actually guess what was happening to him.

"This place," the boy waved his hand, "is the plane between the worlds of living and dead souls. Surely you know what this means, Shion?"

Well, at least he did not have to get used to the boy calling him by his name. "That I died while I was sleeping?"

The smile became wider. "Yes, and I am quite sure most people would like to die in their sleep. Less painful, it seems. Or maybe it is not of your taste?"

Shion shook his head, smiling at the joke. "While I don't mind fighting, but I guess my body is too worn out for anything more. If this is how I die, who am I to fight, anyway? At least I died naturally. It's rare to come by when you're an Athena's Saint."

The smile on the young face turned sadder. Shun kneeled down beside him, his hands on his knees.

"I'm sorry that you have to go through all this. After being killed once, only to be revived twice, it must have strained not only your body, but your soul as well."

Noticing how Shun must have somehow blamed himself, Shion put a hand on one smaller hand. _'Still smaller, even after four years…'_

"Now, I don't mind that, if it means I can help in any way. But I guess even being revived has its limit, since I'm here with you. By the way, do you always do this, tending to dead souls? Because I'm sure there are a lot of souls you have to deal with every second."

Shun smiled at the attempt to change the subject. "Well, there are others who do this. I can't tend to all souls by myself. Only special cases, with special souls."

"Oh, I'm special then? I'm honoured."

The Lord of the Underworld laughed. The Holy Pope was glad that part did not seem to change.

"Of course you are. More so than others. Rather than those despicable country leaders, I would rather see you."

"I'm glad to hear that."

There was a short silence after that; both did not know what else to say. Shion did not bother to ask how life was after Shun had left Sainthood. He was sure, while painful and hard to adjust, it was fine overall, judging by how well-grown Shun was after four years.

Suddenly Shun rose to his feet and looked down at him.

"Well, it's time. I'm not supposed to talk to you like this, but I think Thanatos is giving me some sort of a leeway. I hope you don't mind…"

With that, Shion's body glowed with a bright yellow light. Sensing this is his end, he did not close his eyes, as he continued to watch Shun. And he did the unexpected.

He bowed low. So low that Shion had the urge to tell him not do it as it was not suitable for someone of his position.

When he looked up again, Shun's eyes were watery, yet he continued to look on determinedly.

"Thank you for your guidance, and your courageous way of life, Athena's Holy Pope, Shion of Aries."

And Shion left with a smile.

* * *

"Lord Shun?"

Aiacos took a peek inside the dark room. Without any sort of light to light it, the room was as dark as one in the underground level, even with its position on top of the castle.

"Shh, Aiacos," an unexpected, quiet voice replied.

"Minos? What happened? Is the Lord still sleeping?" Which was a rarity of its own. The 18-years-old Underworld Lord was usually awake by this time, to make sure everything planned for the day earlier on would follow its course.

"No, not really. Just come in, but quietly. You don't want to disturb him."

As he walked into the room, and his eyes starting to adjust to the room's darkness, the dark-haired Judge took in the surrounding. The room was not as dark as he expected it to be, with a few candles being lighted. What he saw next, however, made him ignore everything else.

Instead of on his bed, Shun was sitting on large couch, seemingly resting, or more likely, sleeping. His head was on one of the armrest, and an arm dangling from the couch. Despite the uncomfortable-looking position, Shun looked peaceful. A three-pointed spear (1) was leaning against the other side of the couch, with Minos standing just beside it, as if guarding the couch's occupant.

"Lord Shun is doing something important. We can't disturb him until he wakes up on his own," Minos said in the same quiet voice he used earlier, his eyes still on the sleeping young man.

With that, Aiacos understood. Still, it was a rare event for the Underworld Lord himself to guide a dying soul to the Realm of the Dead. "The dying soul must be an important one, then. Who is it?"

The sudden dark look on the other Judge made him quirked his eyebrow. But before he could ask more, another voice replied instead.

"It's Athena's current Holy Pope, Shion."

He looked at the owner of the voice, walking quickly to his side.

Shun blinked his eyes open a few more times, before looking up with a small smile at his two Judges. "Or should I say, former Holy Pope?"

Aiacos kneeled down beside the couch as Shun fixed himself to a proper sitting position. "How was it, my Lord? How do you feel?"

It must be painful for him, Minos thought; the late Athena's Pope was one of the people who stood by him when he made the decision to join their side.

Shun let another smile, a sadder one this time. "Sad, but I supposed that is expected. But I can't do anything about it. He has his time overdue."

The young Lord looked down at his clasped hands, which Minos and Aiacos noticed by now seemed to be holding something precious.

"My Lord, is that…?"

"Of course, what else can it be?" Slowly, Shun unclasped his hands, showing a bright, glowing sphere.

"It's beautiful," Minos breathed out.

"As expected of a soul of a man who fights only for his Goddess," the boy, slowly standing up, gently cradled the bright soul to his chest, smiling down at it as if it was the most precious item in both worlds.

"A soul befits all his rights for a place in Elysion."

'_Rest well, and get your final sleep, Athena's warrior Shion.'_

_

* * *

_

(1) I'm making Shun used the weapon originally made for Pandora. I hope no one minds.

**A/N:** What was I thinking? I honestly don't know why I'm writing this, or why the time-span was so long apart. The idea just came to me, and won't leave until I write it down. I hope no one mind Shion's dying.

Before any confusion happens, I guess I should explain this. Shun does _not_ live in Elysion, or even in the Underworld, for that matter. He lives in the palace where the gate to the Underworld is situated in the living world. He guards the gate as well; to make sure no mortal being will go through the gate. He goes down to the Underworld often, but the last time he went to Elysion was during the Holy War. He never steps in there since then. The Judge who stays with him most of the time is Rhadamanthys, along with some other Spectres.

Now, can Shun still be considered a mortal? That will remain a secret, for now.

**A/N 2:** This will be the last installment that I have in mind and has been written down. Questions have been asked if I will stop writing for _'HND' _to give way to my 500themes challenge, and the answer is NO. Though my writing time will be focused on the themes, I will not stop writing for this series. More will come later, but I can't promise how frequent they will be. 500themes is not the only thing that comes into my life now; my teaching practicum will be for three months starting July.

So for now, thank you for all your support for _'His New Duty'_ universe. I love this universe a lot, and your support have encouraged me to write even more. I will not give up this universe and I know I will come back and write more, so please be patient with me.

Special thanks to **Jenny DeVic**, **MimiYamatoForever** and **Nobara Aihara** for supporting this fic (and me) for so long.

Again, thank you for reading and comments are well-appreciated.

Unsugar


	11. Just For You

**Title:** Just For You

**Fandom:** Animanga – Saint Seiya

**Summary:** For the one far away, they wish and want only happiness for him. [Set roughly a year after 'His Duty as a Human'.]

**Warning:** None, I think?

**A/N:** Written for Shun's birthday. And reference to Saori's birthday.

**Disclaimer:** Not. Mine. Happy now?

* * *

She opened her eyes as the first light of the dawn touched her eyes. She rubbed her eyes almost languidly before pushes herself from the bed. The purple eyes looked around slowly, before they widened as she remembered the date of the day. Quickly she moved from her bedchamber and quickly prepared herself to face the day.

Athena usually rose from her sleep a bit later than today, but today was a very special day. Her own special day had just passed, and the gift she received for it was still sitting on her personal table.

As she headed out, she stopped by her table and took the oval-shaped gift she received a week ago in her hands. She gave it a poke, smiled as the constellations inside it sparkled before putting it back to its place.

The door closed and the room darkened a bit, but the gift continued to give its sparkles and twinkles. 88 different constellations faded in and out in the palm-sized trinket, giving the impression of a dark night full of bright stars when one looks into it. And five constellations shone the brightest.

She walked down the stairs faster as she noticed her Saints who had been waiting for her. All of them were about to do something special.

Athena, human name Kido Saori, smiled as she thought about the giver of her birthday gift. She had to do something similar for him.

Something that Shun would look at and smiled beautifully as he thought of them.

* * *

"My Lord."

Shun turned around to see Aiacos knelt respectfully behind him, and shook his head at that. Months with the Spectre had taught him that nothing would be able to change that behaviour of that particular Judge of his. "What is it, Aiacos?"

"We received a… gift for you," Aiacos said, continuing when he noticed the younger's confusion. "From the Sanctuary."

"Sanctuary?" He did not remember expecting anything from Athena today, or this week for that matter. Did something happen? Or maybe…

Ah.

"Did you know what the gift about?" The young Lord walked towards the direction the Garuda indicated, and surprisingly, did not lead to the front gate.

It led to his bedroom.

"No. Along with the gift is a letter from Athena herself, asking to not let anyone open it before you. Minos was tempted, but I think it is better for you to open it yourself. Rhadamanthys agrees with me. It's not like they would give you anything dangerous."

Shun smiled at that. It was good to know that his Spectres, the Judges especially, were able to trust Athena and her Saints. His work was paying off.

Shun stepped into his room, and stopped short to stare at the boxed gift on his table. Rhadamanthys and Minos were standing on each side of the table, and he noticed how Minos' hands were twitching to grab the item.

Shun tilted his head in curiousity as he looked at the boxed item. Looking at the Wyvern beside him, he received a nod before reaching out to take the gift and ignored the barely-suppressed flinch for the other Judge. Minos could be so paranoid sometimes.

The box was black in colour, and as he lifted it in his hands, he noticed the opened-letter on the table. Briefly reading it, the young Lord knew it was the letter Aiacos told him about. Even Athena knew how paranoid the Spectres could be.

Then again, even the Saints were like that with her.

Shun lifted the box around, wondering how to open the box. There was no opening anywhere on the box. "How should I open this?" He frowned. Surely Athena was not teasing him.

"Maybe you should try by using your cosmo?" Aiacos suggested after a short silence.

The other three glanced at each other, before re-focusing their attention back to the box.

Shun closed his eyes, putting a small energy into the box. Who knew how much cosmo he would need for this, but he would not risk destroying it. Turned out he did not need to worry about that.

With just a slight focus of his cosmo, the box opened with a bright light, almost blinding them. "Lord Shun!" Minos screamed, hands grabbing almost blindly for his Lord.

But as he opened his eyes, he stood still, mesmerised by what he sees just like the others in the room.

From the box, a show of hologram appeared, making the room appeared to be like a small, closed universe. But instead of filled with planets and galaxies, various names were written in gold and silver, scattering across the dark environment. Small glitters of stars enhanced the atmosphere.

Rhadamanthys looked around them with awe. "Names? Who…"

Shun walked closer to the names, hand raised as if wanting to touch them.

"Milo, June, Nachi, Miho… There are even Julian and Hilde!"

All were the names of whom he had met and known before. He could see his brother, his close friends, and the Gold Saints' names around him. His heart swelled with happiness just looking at them.

"All of them are glowing, as if waiting for something…" Minos said, not sure of what they were supposed to do.

_Yes,_ Shun noticed it as well. _And one glows brighter than others…_

With gentle hands, he touched the name _'Saori'_ – he noticed, with amusement, that Athena used her human name rather than usual _Athena_ –, and his eyes widened with amazement as the name glowed brighter and from the glow, moving pictures appear in front of them.

They were Athena's memories of what she experienced with him. All the fun, tears, laughter, pain and happiness they shared together.

Ending the projection was a smiling Goddess who appeared in front of him with a small wave.

"Hi Shun. How are you? First of all, happy birthday! I hope you like this gift. This is the best I can think of giving you, after the beautiful gift you gave me for my birthday. It was simply gorgeous! Anyway, I hope this gift will make you happy and reminds you that you are always important to us, no matter where you are and who you are with.

"For the rest of the names, do what you did with mine, just touch them. And you just have to touch the box with a bit of your cosmo to close it. I hope you have fun, Shun, and you must always remember that we love you. _I_ love you. Happy birthday, our dearest Shun."

With that, Athena's image dimmed slowly, leaving the four looking at the universe-like room again.

Looking at each other, the Judges reached a silent agreement, and slowly left their Lord to look at his gift alone.

The last image that Rhadamanthys saw as he closes the door was Shun smiling with a trail of tears running down his cheek.

* * *

Shun was listening to Julian's short rambling in balancing his two lives when someone knocked on his bedroom's door.

He had been spending the last few hours watching and listening to all the people wishing him happy birthday. Some he replayed a couple of times just for the sake of it.

He waited until Julian's image disappears before answering. "Yes?"

"It's me, Aiacos. May I enter, my Lord?"

The guilt suddenly bubbling in his chest as Shun remembered that he practically ignored his Judges. "Of course, come in. I'm sorry for what happened," he said as Aiacos entered his room. He touched the box beside him to close the universe around him, and noticed that the colour of the box had changed into an intricate design of gold, silver, white and black.

"It is nothing, my Lord. It is expected for you to prefer to… appreciate your gift alone."

Shun just smiled. "Thank you. And where—Rhadamanthys, Minos, what are you doing there?" He stood up when he noticed his other two Judges were carrying something in their arms. Aiacos moved aside to let him through.

Shun felt his heart swells again as he looked at the picture in front of him. It was a picture of Andromeda and Hades, standing side by side. Various creatures and people filled the background, each signifying an important people in his life.

"It's… beautiful." The feeling he had at the moment was enough to render him speechless.

Rhadamanthys looked aside, blushing. "It's nothing compared to what Athena gave you, though. But I, _we_, still hope that you'll—"

He was cut off by a tight hug from his Lord. Shocked, he looked at Aiacos and noticed the same look of surprise on the usually expressionless face.

Shun did not say anything as he let go of the Wyvern and did the same to Minos.

"Do not ever say that," was the only thing Shun said as he smiled brightly at them.

"Let us go to the throne room, my Lord," Minos said, quickly recovering from his stunned surprise. "The others are waiting for you."

He walked past them, wondering how long the Spectres had been waiting for him.

"And my Lord?"

He turned around to look at his Judges, each with a gentle smile.

"Happy birthday, Lord Shun."

* * *

**A/N:** Happy birthday, Shun! This is something that I've planned to write for Shun's birthday. He will be… 37 this year? And don't ask me what Athena did for her gift. Just thinking about it gave me a headache. I just don't want her and the Saints to give Shun a normal present, and well… They are no normal people in the first place. So this came up. Don't expect to see the same thing to appear at the stores.

**A/N 2: **I'm breaking out of my short hiatus to write this down, especially for Shun's birthday, because I can't do anything else. Just one month left before I can end this hiatus!

Thank you for reading and C&C are well-appreciated.

Unsugar


End file.
